Zyanel Solflame
* |Row 5 title = Family |Row 5 info = Aurelyth Solflame † (Grandmother) Alytheria Bloodmoon † (Mother) Raitaus Solflame † (Husband) Halorast Solflame † (Brother-in-law) Valythra Bloodmoon † (Daughter) |Row 6 title = Date of Death |Row 6 info = 17 January 39 L.C. |Row 7 title = Cause of Death |Row 7 info = Dagger through the heart (Alive) |Row 8 title = Status |Row 8 info = }} Zyanel Solflame was a matriarch of House Solflame and a former member of the Farstriders in her earlier life. She was slain by Tyrinade Moonsong in battle and raised as a banshee. Her status is unknown after having been consumed by the Ascended. Biography Early Life In her early life, Zyanel Solflame - daughter of Alytheria Solflame - showed an aptitude for magic inherited from her mother. Despite this, she was unable to successfully become a mage and instead moved on to become a ranger and a Farstrider. Like most of the nobility of House Solflame, she had a retainer, a dragoon by the name of Raitaus Solflame. The two grew close and ultimately came to love one another. Later in life, they wed, with Raitaus being the first to ever both serve the House and marry into it. They conceived a child together, and Zyanel would give birth to a daughter named Valythra. Though she supported her husband's desire to train their daughter as a soldier of Quel'thalas, Valythra suffered a near fatal episode of coughing that was revealed to be a symptom of a chronic heart condition. Terrified that her daughter was so prone to death at only the age of ten, Zyanel spent much time at her daughter's side and supported her in all her aspirations. Wholly aware of Valythra's promiscuity during her academy days, Zyanel briefly looked down upon her daughter's indulgence in carnal pleasures. However, feeling as though her daughter's days were short and that she would not live for a long time, she accepted that her daughter sought happiness wherever she could while living a sedentary life. WIP Second War WIP Third War Following the Second War, Quel'thalas had broken off from the Alliance of Lordaeron, becoming secluded and independent. Much of Zyanel's time was spent dealing with pockets of Amani Trolls that continued hostilities against the elves. Her husband, Raitaus, encouraged a constant surveillance of the human lands while Quel'thalas remained separate from the Alliance. For this reason, Zyanel was often sent to scout the area surrounding the Thalassian border and monitor the Eastweald. As reports of peculiar illnesses began to crop up throughout the north, a majority dismissed the purported "plague" as being a figment born from paranoia. WIP The Burning Crusade After the Dark Portal reopened, Zyanel believed she had a responsibility to find her former allies among the Farstriders, including Alleria Windrunner. She named her husband, Raitaus, as acting patriarch while she took her rangers to journey beyond the Portal into Outland. The Purging of House Solflame Main Article: Purging of House Solflame In the month of December, Valythra Solflame went missing. Though the House began to search for their daughter by missing persons notices, Zyanel took the initiative to find her on her own. She personally scoured as much of Quel'thalas as she could before she was called back to her family with important news. Word had evidently been put out that Valythra's whereabouts were known, leading Zyanel to track down the source. She happened upon Tyrinade Moonsong, who she knew to be San'layn and demanded information regarding Valythra. Tyrinade offered the information whilst leaving Zyanel in a dilemma - continue her search alone and without leads, or accept Tyrinade's terms despite knowingly walking into a trap. Determined to find her daughter, she accepted and followed Tyrinade into the Onyx Rose keep in the Plaguelands. Now trapped within the keep and with no means of escaping, Tyrinade revealed that Valythra had signed a pact with the Onyx Rose to willingly become a San'layn out of spite towards her family. Though she denied it at first, she came to accept that Valythra had become too close to undead and thus became one herself. She pleaded to let Valythra come with her, desperate to believe there might be a cure for her condition or somewhere safe she could take her daughter. Understanding that she would not leave the keep alive, she decided she would make her stand against the undead, citing it as just another battle in a war long concluded. She battled against eight members of the Onyx Rose at once, Tyrinade included, only to fall. In a last ditch effort to kill Tyrinade, she threw a boot knife at the San'layn, only for for Tyrinade to hand it to Gavarian Nightblade and order him to execute the ranger. The Death Knight buried the knife into her chest, ending her life. She was taken to the graveyard outside the Onyx Rose crypts, where she was then raised as a banshee and tortured for information regarding her family. During her torture, she revealed the location of the Solflame Enclave and its defenses, as well as its inhabitants. She was later witness to the execution of Halorast Solflame, and unleashed an ear-splitting scream in mourning his death. As a final insult to the House of Solflame, all three of the undead members of the family were used in the final battle against Raitaus Solflame, making Zyanel complicit in the murder of her own husband. After the House was destroyed she wandered the Keep's grounds, lost in mourning. Hope Wanes Over time, Zyanel fell into depression. Her family's destruction and her daughter's betrayal, the state of her undeath, and her inability to touch all left her emotionally broken. Though a handful of the Rosen were social with her and helped her endure being trapped in the keep, the reality of her situation and Tyrinade's control was too much for her. In order to stave off madness in her incorporeal state, Zyanel pleaded with Tyrinade to be allowed to take back her body. Ultimately, Tyrinade permitted the banshee to possess her own body, and to get outfitted with new armor. Determined to to preserve some element of her past life, Zyanel equipped herself to become the ranger she was in life. Despite her efforts, Tyrinade was not convinced that Zyanel would be as useful in her physical form as she would be in a spectral form. Desperate to not have to be forced to exist as a spirit, Zyanel began attempting to train her skills that had atrophied due to the body's lack of use. Her efforts ultimately failed to pay off, her archery skills leaving much to be desired. During the skirmishes in Blackrock, Tyrinade was captured and her hold on Zyanel was temporarily broken. Flooded with emotion and the urge to escape, Zyanel fled the keep, leaving her body behind after a battle with Rosen who attempted to prevent her departure. She flew into the Plaguelands and traveled north into the Ghostlands, ultimately reaching Tranquillien. The guards spotted her and prepared to attack her, however Tyrinade soon regained control of her risen and called Zyanel back to the keep. Unable to resist, the banshee wailed in despair, and the guards dismissed her as nothing more than wandering Scourge. Lost to Darkness Languishing under the control of the Onyx Rose, Zyanel continued to drift into madness, only a shred of her willpower still fighting to remain sane. However, fortune came as Zyanel's wayward daughter, Valythra Bloodmoon, finally decided she would abandon the Onyx Rose. Valythra led Zyanel away from Tyrinade's clutches and to the safety of Avaline Cinderspell's Crystal Spire, to wait for the opportunity to break free from Tyrinade. Eventually Zyanel was brought to Uther's Tomb so that Valythra could undergo a ritual to cleanse her soul of Tyrinade's hold, with the implication that Zyanel would also be freed. The ritual to free Valythra went awry, however, with the San'layn's megalomania taking form as a shadowy entity known as the Ascended that began to inhabit her body. In the carnage that ensued, Zyanel initially assumed her daughter had simply gone insane and needed to be stopped, attempting to possess her body to force her to cease. She did not expect the Ascended to literally exist and battle her for control. Zyanel was able to fight back, but was ultimately tricked into a vulnerable position, in which she was consumed by the Ascended. As the shadow swallowed her, she condemned her own mother, Alytheria Bloodmoon, accusing her of being the cause of all the misfortune that was transpiring. Zyanel's current status is unknown, presumably trapped within Valythra's body. Appearance Incorporeal with spectral blue hue, it is immediately obvious that this woman is a ghost. The body of this disembodied spirit seems almost athletic in a way, and wears nothing more than a threadbare white dress that seems to billow as if blown by a nonexistent wind. Her wavy black hair floats from her head as if she were submerged under water. Zyanel almost always floats roughly a foot from the ground, but sometimes assumes various postures such as sitting, lying down, leaning, and more. However, she is never capable of physically interacting with anything. Personality In life, Zyanel was a willful woman who valued family above everything, sacrificing much to care for her daughter Valythra. She was brave, not shying away from a battle in which she was outnumbered or outmatched, having fallen in battle against at least eight of the Onyx Rose, including Death Knights, San'layn, and an abomination. Zyanel may have been recklessly brave, however, as she was quick to search for Valythra independently rather than in a coordinated effort, and chose to knowingly walk into a trap if it brought her to her daughter. In death, Zyanel's personality has become turbulent and deeply scarred by the trauma of her death and her family's destruction. Frequently lapsing into despair and mourning as a banshee, she typically comes off as broken and weak. Beneath the sorrow, however, she struggles to remain strong and willful, holding out for the day that Tyrinade loses control over her pet banshee. Category:Blood Elf Category:Undead Category:Rangers Category:Farstriders Category:Banshee Category:Characters Category:House Solflame Category:Dark Ranger